I was baking with a friend’s daughter at the weekend. She had an imaginary friend called Maisy. I started acting along and introduced my imaginary friend to hers. It got me thinking though, what if it wasn’t an act. What if imaginary friends actually existed? A person, a being from the past who we can see and engage with when we’re young but, for whatever reason, loose the ability to see as we get older.
A child doesn’t question but just accepts things for what they are. It is why I think I find them so refreshing to be around. They take everything at face value for being what it is. What appears strange to others is perfectly normal in their eyes.
A friend told me she had an imaginary friend called Man-tillis when she was younger. Much later they discovered that the property had been owned by a Mr Tillman and so the ‘imaginary friend’ was most likely Mr Tillman appearing to her, not in an aggressive way but just to offer support and kindness. You hear stories of young children seeing angels coming down to ‘collect’ a dying older relative, a beacon of light emanating from the sky…. a vision which would terrify an adult is greeted with calm acceptance by the child.
Even shooting stars take on an ethereal quality, as a departed relative whizzes across the universe. The barrier between our world and the next is crossed through the innocence of a child’s gaze.
Is it with the loss of innocence that we lose this gift or is it because we actively choose ‘not to see’ anymore? We focus our energies on the more ‘normal’ and ‘mundane’ aspects of life instead. Perhaps it is a sense of fear that prevents us. We realise that it is not normal to see spirits and so will ourselves not to. Maybe it comes with an awareness of what society dictates is right or what is wrong – all our focus and energy is involved in trying to ‘fit in’ and make a success of our lives, so much so that we loose the ability and time to see the beings around us who want to help and make us be the best version of ourselves.
I am certainly a believer in guardian angels; important people in our lives ‘staying around’ to offer their support when they’re not there in the flesh anymore. There are ways they can reach the ‘non seers’ through old familiar smells like roses or tobacco… sounds and smells that sum up them. Beacons that offer some semblance of memory and happiness to us and a feeling that we’re never alone.
